St. Joseph City Manager Woody offered job in Florida

St. Joseph City Manager Bruce Woody/Photo courtesy St. Joseph city government

By BRENT MARTIN

St. Joseph Post

St.
Joseph City Manager Bruce Woody has been offered a new job in Florida, but has
not officially resigned his position with the city.

Mayor
Bill McMurray says it is too soon to talk of Woody’s resignation.

“Bruce
has not sent any formal notice to the city council, because things have not
been finalized with the organization down in Florida,” McMurray tells St.
Joseph Post.

The
Emerald Coast Utilities Authority has voted to offer its executive director
position to Woody, but his contract has not been finalized. The position is
said to pay between $160,000 and $225,000 annually.

Woody
has been with St. Joseph city government for a long time. He first came to the
city as part of the Public Works Department in 1995, eventually becoming Public
Works Director. Woody has served as St. Joseph City Manager for eight years.

McMurray
will call for a closed-door executive session of the city council next week to
discuss the matter.

“It
probably will come to pass and if it does, we would be prepared to hit the ground
running, tying up details for Bruce here in St. Joe and finding an interim city
manager and putting out an RFP (request for proposals) for a search firm for
the new city manager,” McMurray says.

This
news didn’t originate in St. Joseph. It appears it leaked out of Florida and a
quick search of the Internet discloses news media reporting on the intention of
Emerald Coast to hire Woody as early as Monday. It took a while to filter down
to here.